Great American Ball Park turned into Wrigley Field East for a night as a sellout crowd of 42,365 watched Soriano and the Cubs spank the Reds 8-1 and move to within 1 1/2 games of first-place Milwaukee in the National League Central Division.

A strong outing from Sean Marshall, Soriano's two home runs and Derrek Lee's two-run shot paced the Cubs to 32nd victory in their last 49 games, leaving them with the best record in baseball since June 3.

After hitting only eight home runs the first 22 games in July, the Cubs smacked three on one productive night in Cincinnati.

"Are you happy now?" Lee asked reporters who had been asking him about the lack of home runs for weeks. "You guys don't believe in us, but no one cares. We just want to win."

That's exactly what the Cubs have been doing since that wild weekend in June, when Carlos Zambrano punched Michael Barrett, Lou Piniella kicked dirt on an umpire and a season that began in misery turned into a joy ride almost overnight.

"We just have to keep grinding," Piniella said. "It's a little early to get google-eyed with where we're at. [August] is a month that separates the men from the boys."

Marshall (5-4) allowed one run on six hits in six-plus innings. His 103 pitchers were his most since a 111-pitch performance against Florida on May 28.

"It's a blast playing for this team right now," Marshall said. "And a blast playing for them the last two years."

Marshall, who has allowed two or fewer runs in 10 of his 12 starts, reduced his earned-run average to 3.10. Piniella wanted Marshall to go at least six innings to help preserve the bullpen, which has shown signs of fatigue in recent days.

"When your number three, four and five starters give you a chance to win, you have to be pleased," Piniella said.

Marshall did more than pitch. He also contributed a double to end his 0-for-17 drought in '07.

"I was talking with [plate umpire] Joe West, and he said, 'Ah, you're 0-for-17. You can't hit or you can't bunt.' Just being funny. I just swung, the guy threw it right at my barrel, and I finally got a hit."

Should an umpire really be saying things like that to a pitcher?

"I was joking with him the whole game," Marshall said. "We had a good time out there."

Marshall was thrown out at the plate easily after his double on Soriano's single off the right field wall. Marshall blamed himself for not getting a good read on the ball when it was hit.

"[Third base coach Mike Quade] shouldn't take blame for that," Marshall said. "I didn't run like I can run. I'm not a fast runner anyway."

The Reds sprung a leak early on when their ace, Aaron Harang, left with a back injury after the first, shortly after Lee had smacked a two-run homer. Soriano, who entered the game hitting .183 (11-for-60) since the All-Star break, took an 0-1 offering from Mike Gosling in the second and deposited it into the upper deck in left to make it 5-0.

Soriano added a two-run blast in the ninth, his 18th, igniting the chanting of his name in the bottom of the inning.

"It's fun, because we're here in Cincinnati and the Cubs fans are having more fun than Cincinnati [fans]," he said.

With Milwaukee losing a doubleheader in St. Louis, the Cubs are as close to first as they have been since April 12.

"We're right there," Lee said. "We just have to keep the pressure on … and put ourselves in good position coming down the stretch."

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